Customer Reviews

Joy Unspeakable

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This is the best treatment of the person and work of the Holy Spirit in a Christians life. i found it to be extremely refreshing and i thought his exegesis followed by the testimonies of the great men of Christendom were inspiring. Martin's thesis is that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not about santification(what he calls the normal work of the HS) but to uphold the name of Jesus and give a supernatural desire to know him, to love him, and to spread his name. Lloyed-Jones knew this book would be controversial, but his exegesis along with his history of the early church since Pentecost makes a powerful case. Overall, i recommend this book to any seminary student who wants to add to his knowledge of the person and work of God the Holy Spirit. We really do have a supernatural faith.

This is the clearest and most convincing expostition of the baptism/infilling of the Holy Spirit as a second work of grace that I have ever read. Lloyd-Jones is very articulate, and presents his arguments with great clarity. Be warned - after reading this book, you will find it difficult to disagree with him!

For a reformed author, D. Martyn Lloyd Jones has a unique view of the Holy Spirit. Unlike most Baptist and Reformed authors he holds that a believer may not initially be baptized by the Holy Spirit on conversion. His view is similar in some ways to that of many charismatics. However, Jones emphasizes the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit and sees the signs of his baptism as a new power to bear witness to Christ accompanied by assurance and "joy unspeakable". It is good reading and should make the reader rethink his view of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

There are chapters in this book that make you yearn to draw closer to the Lord, parts that will warm your spirit and long to have more of Him!
You will stop mid-sentence and say "wow!".

Of a personal Biblical library of more than 5,000 volumes, I consider this work on the baptism of the Holy Spirit the finest I've found. Martyn Lloyd-Jones here combines biblical and historical insights and examples to create a precise treatment of the Baptism. While few will probably agree with every deduction, much that is here said is very convincing, if not indisputable. Classic Pentecostals will find the work different than the norm that simply and unfortunately emphasize "tongues" as the essence of the gift. Non-Pentecostals who, with prejudice, reject a "Baptism" experience as possible subsequent to salvation may find the premise objectionable.

I commend this book wholeheartedly to ALL who with an open heart and mind are willing to search the scripture and history of the church in hopes of a greater understanding of God's precious promise of His Presence.

It alarms me that this excellent work has such little popularity among readers of "The Doctor". Hopefully Amazon will soon carry this text again. I cannot find it anywhere else in the States!

I am extremely happy that I bought and own this book. It's a good buy, with over 450 pages, and it seems to consist of twenty four sermons that Lloyd-Jones preached on the subject of The Baptism with the Holy Spirit. I say this because Lloyd-Jones died in 1981, but this book is copyrighted in 1984 by Lloyd-Jones' wife. Also, his grandson is the editor, and he also wrote an introduction.

In spite of the fact that this may be transcripts of sermons, it is very well written and easy to read and understand. So either the editor did a marvelous job, or Lloyd-Jones wrote out his sermons in addition to preaching them.

Now to content. I was for many years a member of a traditional Pentecostal church, and we were taught that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit was an event separate and usually subsequent to salvation and was always accompanied by speaking in tongues. After many years under this teaching, and being very well schooled in the arguments to back up the traditional Pentecostal teaching, a series of events of a very negative nature shook my faith in this type of church and caused me to almost "start over" in my Christian education. Through this journey, I studied the teachings of many non-Pentecostal preachers, teachers, and authors. One of my favorite teachers and authors is John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in California, who radio ministry is called "Grace to You." He is extremely prolific and a wonderful, thorough, and uncompromisingly scriptural teacher of the Bible.

Well John MacArthur wrote a book entitled "Charismatic Chaos" in which he gives a very good presentation of his positions: 1) that "miracle gifts," [speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, miracles, healings] ceased even before the end of the Apostle Paul's ministry and life and 2) that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit occurs now concurrent with salvation. In the early church, it came it stages, but MacArthur gives his reasons for that, and he does a really good job. Based on his book, I stopped praying in tongues, and became even more suspicious of people who say "The Lord told me . . . ." and who want to give me prophesies or operate in other "spiritual gifts." Still, I was not convinced that John MacArthur had the whole story, because I have not seen anything in the church during my lifetime that has come close to the Book of Acts. And I don't see anything in the Bible that says the church today should be different from then.

Now MacArthur also claims that Martin Lloyd-Jones is one of his "heroes." He uses quotes from him in his MacArthur commentaries. So when I discovered that Lloyd-Jones was a Calvinist (or Reformed) theologian, AND he believes that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit occurs separate and generally subsequent to salvation and that all the gifts of the Spirit can occur today, well this book was for me a "must."

And I am not disappointed. Lloyd-Jones gives his exegesis that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit occurs separate from salvation, it does not require speaking with tongues, it does not require accompaniment by any manifestation of the Spirit or any particular gift, it is not equivalent with sanctification, that gifts of the spirit or "manifestations" can be counterfeited, that there are many reasons to be cautious about manifestations, and much, much more. There are twenty-four chapters and twenty-four topics, and I have enjoyed them all. I especially appreciate the chapters showing that we have to be cautious when people claim that they have gifts of the Spirit.

Do I now have all the answers? No, not at all. In fact, I may have more questions than ever, but I believe that my love for, and knowledge of, Scripture is greater than ever. And so I'll keep on studying and searching and reading and researching, and I believe I'll get the answers eventually.

Finally, I am asking God to grant me the Baptism with the Holy Spirit as Lloyd-Jones defines and describes it, so I would have to say I found his presentation very persuasive.

I purchased 8 of these as gifts. Gave them all away... then "loaned" my copy to a friend... I wish I knew which one it was, because I never got the book back. I was delighted to find it available again.
If you want to know what I believe about the Holy Spirit, read this book. We are in agrement on 95% of the material he covers.

For each category of discussion, each of the prevelent positions are fairly presented and examined... then Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones presents his position and looks at why he believes what he does, and what he sees as the shortcomings of the other positions.

Very well done.
I've now bought 10 copies, and will not loan this one to anyone.

Once in a lifetime comes a man truly gifted of God, who brings the genuine excitement of truth of the Holy Spirit to his writing and understanding. That man was Martin Lloyd Jones. A man of very high intellect and knowledge of the Bible, and the fallen nature of man! This book "Joy Unspeakable" is, without doubt, the finest book on the subject of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and clarity and sensitivity on speaking in "other tongues". I continually thanked God for giving this man such discernment and width of understanding on these sometimes controversial subjects, especially in these days when such gifts are so abused by the Charismatic and Pentecostal Churches. When Bibles are given out in these churches, this book should also be issued at the same time! As I read this book for the third time recently, "Joy Unspeakable" flooded my spirit in its continuity of enlightenment and understanding. As a Charismatic and a Welshman, I praised God for the corrective influence this book provided in abundance!

This is 4th book by MLJ which I read. it helped me to understand why we need Holy Spirit seriously nowadays.
it leaded me to repent and seek for the true joy with Holy Spirit and yet need to seek for the batism of Holy Spirit.
Let's ask Him pour His Spirit by seeking for His face with importunity.

This is one of the best explanations of the baptism in the Holy Spirit that I have read, backed up completely with biblical theology by a Spirit-filled, brilliant servant of God.